1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer game that is played over a computer network, such as the World Wide Web.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the growing number of people having access to a computer, computer games are becoming more widespread, especially among the younger generation. However, the development of computer graphics, and especially 3D graphics, has allowed the games to become more sophisticated. Also facilitating the emergence of more sophisticated games is the emergence of fast personal computers with more powerful CPUs and with more Random Access Memory (RAM). The more sophisticated games have, in turn, expanded the computer game market by attracting a more mature consumer base.
There are many types of computer games to be found on the market today. One way to type or classify these games is by the theme of the game. The following list sets forth a number of the themes found in computer games on the market today:
(1) 3D first-person action games, such as the "Doom" game produced by id Corp., put the player in a 3D environment where it is possible to walk, turn and react to the surrounding objects. PA1 (2) Adventure games and interactive fiction, such as the "Zork" game, are story based games in which the player controls a character in the game play scenario. PA1 (3) Edutainment games, such as the "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" game produced by Broderbund, merge entertainment and education. They are designed to provide the player with a learning process that is articulated through absorbing gameplay. PA1 (4) Fighting games, such as the "Mortal Kombat" game produced by Midway Manufacturing Company, are action oriented games. They are based on the martial arts and other fighting sports and offer a variety of characters for the player to control, each with a unique set of fighting skills. PA1 (5) Strategy games, such as the "SimCity" game made by Maxis Co., are also called god games because of the role played by the game player as the shaper of the system by virtue of the managing of the resources of a society. Other strategy games include chess, e.g. the ChessMaster game produced by The Fidelity ToolWorks. PA1 (6) Arcade-action games, such as the "1942" game, are based on the action of eliminating enemies using a theme like war, alien invasion, etc. PA1 (7) Simulation games, such as the "FA-18/Interceptor" game made by Electronic arts (EA), are most often associated with some form of military hardware, commonly aircraft and tanks. However, some other types of simulation games exist such as racing a car or flying a spaceship. PA1 (8) Sports games, such as the "NBA live", "PGA Tour golf" and "NHL Hockey" games made by EA, are very old in the gaming arena. Most of the gaming sports tend to be a simulation of actual sports like football, baseball, basketball, etc. PA1 (9) War games, such as the "Eastern Front 1941" game made by Chris Crawford require adherence to a set of rules creating a structured environment. One example of such an environment is a recreation of our world's history (e.g., world war I and II). A more complete and detailed description of the various game themes can be found in "The Ultimate Game Developer's Source book" by Ben Sawyer, ed. Coriolis Group Books, Inc. 1996: PA1 (1) Multiplayer in the Same Room is the original multiplayer architecture where multiple players, usually not exceeding two, play the same game simultaneously on the same hardware. Many coin-operated arcade games use this configuration. PA1 (2) Multiplayer Modem Games are played with two distinct computers, each with a modem, and each connected to the other via a telephone line. Many games today offer some sort of modem-based, long-distance playing. However, as with Multiplayer in the Same Room, the number of players is generally limited to two. PA1 (3) Network Games allow multiple players to interact over a Local Area Network (LAN). This particular architecture is generally capable of accommodating more than two players but is still limited to a relatively small number of players, typically less than 16 players. PA1 (4) Remote Access Server Games are a combination of modem-to-modem games and LAN games. The players do not have to reside on the same Local Area Network, and even though it is a modem-based configuration it is not limited to a one-to-one connection, i.e. it is not limited to two players. However, these games are typically limited to 16 players. A remote-access server game has two components: a computer-game server and computer-client. Players dial up the remote game server via modems using their client software package and engage in simultaneous play with other players who have done the same. PA1 (5) Online Service Multiplayer Network Games are essentially structured like Remote Access Server Games. However, Online Network Games set up servers on the Internet and use the TCP/IP networking protocol to communicate with the players. Multiplayer games of this type that are presently available typically accommodate less than 100 players.
Computer games can also be classified according to the number of players that can play the game. There are single player games in which only one player is involved and multiplayer games in which a plurality of players are involved. The multiplayer games can be further sub-typed according to the computer/communication architecture that is used to implement the game as follows:
Among the multiplayer computer games available on the market, few can be played by more than 16 players at the same time. For example, "Doom", which is famous for its level of interactivity and sophisticated 3D graphics, as well as animation capabilities, can only be played by a maximum of 8 players at the same time. This game is hosted by a computer (the server), which is generally associated with one of the players and which dispatches data to the other computers (i.e. the clients or players' computers). Each computer has to load a copy of the game in its memory to minimize the size of the data packets exchanged between the server and each of the computers. The exchange of data packets is handled by protocols, in this case IPX protocol. The number of players has been limited to 8 because of the architecture of the system and the size of the data packets.
Multiplayer games can also be classified according to the time frames within which players interact with one another. With respect to multiplayer computer games, there are "real time" games in which the state of the game is frequently updated, typically several times a second. Another type of multiplayer computer game is a "turn-based" game in which each player can study the current state of the game and enter moves over an extended and defined period of time. Generally, this period of time is on the order of hours. Upon expiration of the defined time period, the moves are processed according to the game rules and the updated state of the game is provided to the players. The genesis of such games are the Play-by-Mail games in which players in different locations submitted orders (moves) by mail to a game administrator, who then processed the moves received during a defined period of time, i.e. processed the "turn," and then sent the players a written description of the updated state of the game. "Turns" in play-by-mail games tend to be no more frequent than weekly, and are often monthly or more. An updated version of the Play-by-Mail games are the Play-by-email games in which e-mail rather than the postal service is used to convey moves and the state of the game between the players and the game administrator. Play-by-email games tend to rely heavily on the personal efforts of a central game administrator. As a consequence, these games generally support only a limited number of players--often 20 or less--and are entirely text-based.
In recent years, the Internet and, in particular, the World Wide Web portion of the Internet has experienced a rapid growth. In this regard, the Internet has begun to accommodate games. The first games to be launched on the Web were predominantly single player, interactive stories or text-based, puzzle games. More recently, a number of multiplayer computer games have appeared on the Internet/Web. Examples of such games are SubSpace by Virgin Interactive Entertainment (http://www.vie.com/subspace/) and Stars! by Empire Interactive (http://beast.webmap.com/stars!/). These games also support a limited number of players, typically less than about 16. A further characteristic of such games is that each player must download or otherwise install game software to supplement the functionality of the player's web browser.